Ice breaker unit for staggered stack vending machines



Nov. 8, 1966 E. c. JOHNSON 3,283,953

ICE BREAKER UNIT FOR STAGGERED STACK VENDING MACHINES Filed Jan. 25, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig.1.

27 32 Q 25 Q O O INVENTOR E/mer C. Johnson Nov. 8, 1966 E. c. JOHNSON 3,283,953

ICE BREAKER UNIT FOR STAGGERED STACK VENDING MACHINES Filed Jan. 25, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Elmer C. Johnson Fig.3. I

Patented Nov. 8, 1966 3,283,953 ICE BREAKER UNIT FOR STAGGERED STACK VENDING MACHINES Elmer C. Johnson, Raytown, Mo., assignor to The Vendo Company, Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Filed Jan. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 427,698 5 Claims. (Cl. 2216'7) This invention is concerned with the problem of vending bottled beverages from refrigerated compartments in which the bottles often become frozen together or to the walls of the compartment. More particularly, this invention relates to modifications in the vending mechanism of the staggered stack vending machine shown and described in a copending application owned by the assignee of record herein, Serial No. 269,487, filed April 1, 1963, now Patent No. 3,231,129, Herman R. Craven et al., inventors, which eliminate this freezing problem and assure vending of the articles under all temperature and humidity conditions.

In some localities, especially in the southern regions of the United States, the preferred consumption temperature of bottled beverages is just above freezing. Occasionally, the bottles are maintained at a temperature in the vending machine such that flaked ice forms in the beverage when the cap is removed. Due to the sugar content and other additives present in the beverage the freezing point thereof is several degrees lower than that of Water so that, if the bottles are maintained at near the beverage freezing point, any moisture surrounding the bottles will freeze.

If the ambient air has a low moisture content difficulty is seldom encountered even though cold bottle compartment temperatures may be maintained to satisfy customer consumption preferences. However, ambient humidity in the South is quite high; therefore, considerable moisture is available for condensation and subsequent freezing to the bottles and the walls of the compartment as the temperature is lowered therein during refrigeration. Ultimately, the bottles of the stack may become frozen together or frozen to the interior Walls of the compartment and, during vending, when the lowermost bottle of the stack is required to gravitate into a delivery chute, such gravitation will not occur since the stack will be tightly frozen together and to the walls of the compartment.

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide a vending mechanism for bottled beverages which will effect dispensing of the lowermost bottle of the stack thereof even though the bottles may be tightly frozen together or frozen to the walls of the refrigerated compartment.

Specifically, an important object of this invention is to provide a vending mechanism for a staggered stack vending machine which will assure that the lowermost bottle of the stack is vended even though such bottle may be frozen to the adjacent bottle or to a compartment wall.

Still another object of the instant invention is to modify the vending mechanism of the aforesaid application so that such mechanism will effect vending even though the weight of the bottle to be vended is not available to initiate vending thereof due to being frozen to another bottle in the stack or to a wall of the compartment and, additionally, to provide a means of positively driving the bottle from the compartment in case such frozen condition occurs.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide icebreaking structure on the bottle retainer of each column of a staggered stack vending machine, and to provide the vending mechanism of each compartment with a wedgeshaped member which is brought into engagement with both of the column retainers, if a bottle to be vended is lodged in the compartment, to effect a wedging action between the retainers which forces the retainer beneath the lodged bottle to shift toward its bottle-releasing position and bring the ice-breaking structure thereof into engagement with the bottle to dislodge the latter.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary, front elevational view of the dispensing mechanism of the aforesaid copending application, certain of the components of the mechanism being broken away to reveal the structure of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view through the center of one of the bottle-receiving compartments showing the structure of the instant invention;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, horizontal, sectional view looking downwardly into a bottle-receiving compartment and a portion of an adjacent compartment; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, vertical, sectional view through a compartment looking rearwardly and showing the icebreaking structure mounted on respective bottle retainers.

The vending mechanism shown and described in the aforesaid copending application is illustrated only fragment-arily in this application in sufficient detail to provide a full and complete understanding of the improvements of the instant invention. Therefore, the disclosure of the copending application is incorporated herein by reference as may be required to fully understand the constructional details and the operation of the complete vending machine.

FIGURE 1 shows a front plate 10, a side partition 12, and a divider partition 14 which define portions of a pair of upright, bottle-receiving compartments 16 and 18, each adapted to contain two upright, overlapping, staggered columns of bottled beverages. The two columns are shown in broken lines in FIG. 4. A circular latch 20 forms a part of the vending mechanism of compartment 18, together with an L-shaped operating arm 22, an actuator link 24, and an extension 26 which is coupled to the armature of a vend solenoid (not shown).

The circular latch 20 has a number of angularly spaced lugs 28 extending from the forward face thereof and receiving a dog 30 on arm 22. The latch wheel 20 rotates about a horizontal shaft 32 which also mounts one end of a spring 34 coupled with extension 26 and arm 22 at the junction thereof.

A common bar 36 extends beneath front plate 10, and a delivery chute 38 extends beneath the mechanism to a delivery opening (not shown). A horizontal shaft 40 extends beneath the compartments and is driven by a vend motor (not shown) which effects raising and lowering of common bar 36 during the vend cycle to dispense the lowermost bottle from the selected compartment.

Bar 36 is shown in its normal, stand-by position, downward movement to its vend position being effected by the weight of the bottle to be vended or, if such bottle is frozen to a wall of the compartment or to the adjacent bottle, by the vend motor in a manner to be described hereinafter. Actuator link 24 is pivotally mounted on a horizontal bar 42 shown in its stand-by position prior to vending. It will be appreciated from the aforesaid copending application that each compartment of the vending machine has a latch wheel 20, an arm 22, an extension 26 and a link 24 and associated components which control the bottle retainers of that compartment during the vending operation.

Such retainers are shown at 44 and 46 and extend be neath the compartment from front to rear in underlying relationship to the columns of bottles thereabove. Each retainer is provided with an extension 48 which overlies a component 50 extending from the rear face of latch wheel 20 when that'particular column is latched against vending. The extensions 48 are each provided with antifriction means such as a roller as illustrated. The components 50 are angularly spaced about latch wheel 20 as may be seen in FIG. 2. The function of latch wheel 20 is to permit vending of a bottle from first one column and then the other of a compartment during operation of the machine. The retainer which is not supported by a component 50 of latch wheel 20 will move downwardly under the weight of the column during vending unless the column is frozen to the walls of the compartment. A return spring mechanism 52 is provided for each retainer to assist in returning the same to its normal position shown after vending.

It may be seen that each retainer 44 or 46 includes an elongated, generally rectangular, transversely V-shaped support shelf 54 for the bottles of the corresponding col umn. An upstanding arm 56 is mounted on each shelf 54 by a clamp 58 in alignment with the necks of the bottles of the column. Arm 56 and one section of clamp 58 are formed as a continuous strip, arm 56 forming the upper portion of the strip while the lower portion thereof presents a depending leg 60.

In FIG. 4, retainer 46 is illustrated in full lines and in broken lines to show the path of movement of the retainer and its bottle-engaging arm 56 during vending of the lowermost bottle of the associated column. The fullline position of arms 56 of retainer 46 shows the disposition of the arm at the instant it engages the neck of the bottle after having been shifted from a vertical position parallel with the adjacent partition of the compartment. It will be appreciated that this motion of arm 56 exerts a twisting force on the bottle, pushing it away from the adjacent partition and forcing the neck downwardly to crack any ice that might exist between the bottle and the compartment wall or the adjacent bottle of the other column.

In the aforesaid copending application, the bottle retainers are caused to swing downwardly by the weight of the bottle thereon. Manifestly, some force other than the weight of the bottle must be applied to the retainers in order to actuate the same if the bottle is stuck due to freezing. Accordingly, referring particularly to FIG. 1, it may be seen that the instant invention provides a driving member in the form of a cam plate 62 of generally wedge-shaped configuration disposed between extensions 48 of the retainers and mounted for pivotal movement on common bar 36 by pivot pin 64. Plate 62 contains an arcuate track 66 therein in the form of a cutout or slot which receives a guide 68 mounted on shaft 32. Guide 68-takes the form of a spacer or collar on shaft 32 which rides in track 66 during movement of plate 62. The full lines in FIG. 1 show the plate in its stand-by position, the broken lines illustrating the action of the plate in driving the right-hand extension 48 downwardly to swing its retainer to the bottle-dispensing position.

Common bar 36 serves as a carrier for plate 62 and is swingably mounted to the machine structure by a pair of arms 70 which pivot about the aligned axes of a pair of pins 72 journalled in respective side walls 74 of the machine housing. Only one of the pins 72 is visible in the figures since only one side wall 74 of the machine is shown in the fragmentary illustrations. A pair of arms 76 also mount horizontal bar 42 for swinging movement about pins 72. It may be noted that bar 42 carries actuator links 24, the links 24 being pivotally mounted on bar 42 for movement in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 1, upon actuation of respective operating arms 22.

-The vend motor (not shown) is operably coupled to a gear drive which includes a shaft 78 having a gear 80 mounted thereon. Gear 80 is meshed with a gear 82 mounted on shaft 40, the latter carrying a cam 84 of generally semicircular configuration. Cam 84 has a semicircular, outer cam surface 84a and a cutaway edge 84b. Surface 84a and edge 84b engage a roller 85 carried by arm 70 to control the movement of common bar 36. A pin 86 extends from one side of cam 84 in parallelism with shaft 40, pin 86 being disposed to engage a J-shaped extension 88 which depends from arm 70. It should be understood that each of the arms 70 is provided with an extension 88, and that the gear and cam arrangement illustrated is employed at both ends of shaft 40 in association with the arms 70 which carry the common bar 36. It may be noted that a drive mechanism 90 is also employed for each of the arms 76 that carry horizontal bar 42, details of this mechanism being fully set forth in aforesaid copending application.

The basic operation of the vending apparatus is fully described in the above-mentioned copending application and, therefore, will not be repeated herein except as necessary to understand the operation of the structure of the instant invention. Energization of one of the vending solenoids shifts the extension 26 of its armature upwardly to swing arm 22 about pivot 23 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1. This pulls dog 30 out from between adjacent lugs 28 and also shifts link 24 in a clockwise or rightward direction, since a stub shaft 25, extending from the upper extremity of link 24, is engaged by the edges of an elongated slot 27 in the vertical leg of operating arm 22. This moves link 24 into engagement with the teeth of latch wheel 20, causing rotation of the same, upon upward movement of horizontal bar 42, one increment to move one of the components 50 thereof from beneath an extension 48 of one of the retainers of the selected compartment. At the same time, another component 50 of the latch wheel is moved into supporting relationship with the extension 48 of the other retainer. Thus, one retainer is placed in an unlatched condition for subsequent vending from that column while the other retainer is locked in place.

Operation of the vend motor effects upward swinging of horizontal bar 42 through drive mechanism 90 to thereby cause the incremental rotation of latch wheel 20 just discussed above. As the vend cycle continues, bar 42 is lowered to its stand-by position. At this time, however, vending does not occur because the common bar 36 is still in supporting relationship to the extensions 48 of respective bottle retainers.

During the incremental shifting of latch wheel 20, the vend motor drives earn 84 in a clockwise direction (as viewed in FIG. 2) causing roller to ride over surface 84a. After aproximately one-half of a revolution of shaft 40, however, cam 84 is in the dotted line position illustrated in FIG. 2 and can no longer support roller 85. The unlatched retainer of the selected column will then shift downwardly under the weight of the bottle to be vended and cause common bar 36 to shift downwardly, unless the bottle is frozen to the wall of the compartment or an adjacent bottle. If this occurs, slight additional shifting of cam 84 brings pin 86 to bear against the lower extremity of the I-sha'ped extension 88 causing common bar 36 to be forced downwardly by the vend motor powered gear drive train.

Assuming that the bottle is frozen in place, forceful downward movement of common bar 36 carries cam plate 62 downwardly, forcing the same to apply pressure on both of the extensions 48 between which it is sandwiched. Since one of the extensions 48 is supported by a latching component 50, the driving force of cam plate 62 is brought to bear against the other extension 48 and the plate shifts about pivot pin 64 to relieve the pressure on the latched extension While continuing to force the unlatched retainer downwardly. During this action and subsequent return of plate 62 to the stand-by position, guide 68 rides in track 66 to control the path of travel of the moving plate. Thus, it may be appreciated that, while driving force is applied to the unlatched retainer to swing the same downwardly, the came plate 62 slidably engages the extension of the latched retainer and does not apply appreciable force thereto.

As discussed hereinabove, FIG. 4 clearly illustrates the action of arm 56 in dislodging the frozen bottle as retainer 46 swings downwardly under the driving force of cam plate 62. After the lowermost bottle is dispensed, spring mechanism 52, which is placed in tension during downward movement of the retainer, returns the retainer toward its stand-by position. As the vending cycle is completed, roller 85 is once again engaged by surface 84a and the common bar 36 returns to its stand-by position in supporting relationship to the various extensions 48 of the bottle retainers.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In article-dispensing apparatus provided with a refrigerated compartment having opposed walls for receiving a pair of upright, overlapping, staggered columns of articles, and a retainer for each column respectively shiftable between a normal position underlying the lowermost article of the associated column and a location clearing said lowermost article thereof to release the same, the combination with said retainers of: Y

stnucture carried by each of said retainers respectively for engaging the lowermost article of the associated column to move the same away from the articles thereabove as the corresponding retainer moves from its normal position to its article-releasing location; and

means operably associated with said retainers for alternately forcing the latter away from said normal positions and toward said locations thereof, whereby to dislodge the lowermost article of each column to assure dispensing thereof if the same is frozen to an 'adjacent article or to one of the walls of said compartment.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said means includes a latch alternately engageable with said retainers for maintaining the engaged retainer in said normal position thereof, a shiftable member engageable with said retainers for alternately shifting the latter from said normal positions toward said locations, and means mounting said member for movement in a direction to shift the unlatched retainer toward said location thereof upon driving movement of said member.

3. The invention of claim 1,. wherein said means includes a latch alternately engageable with said retainers for maitaining the engaged retainer in said normal position thereof, a shiftable, Wedge-shaped member engageable with said retainers for alternately shifting the latter from said normal positions toward said locations, and means mounting said member for movement into driving engagement with said retainers along a path of travel extending therebetween, whereby to wedge the member between the retainers to force the unlatched retainer toward said location thereof.

4. The invention of claim 3, wherein said membermounting means comprises a carrier for the member having a pivotal connection therewith permitting swinging movement of the member away from the latched retainer as the member engages said retainers during movement along said path of travel.

5. The invention of claim 4, wherein said retainer-forcing means further includes power means coupled with said carrier for shifting the latter in a direction to move said member along said path of travel.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 441,536 11/1890 Cornell 221289 2,903,158 9/1959 Howard 221-290 X 3,209,943 10/1965 Newberry 22167' SAMUEL P. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. IN ARTICLE-DISPENSION APPARATUS PROVIDED WITH A REFRIGERATED COMPARTMENT HAVING OPPOSED WALLS FOR RECEIVING A PAIR OF UPRIGHT, OVERLAPPING, STAGGERED COLUMNS OF ARTICLES, AND A RETAINER FOR EACH COLUMN RESPECTIVELY SHIFTABLE BETWEEN A NORMAL POSITION UNDERLYING THE LOWERMOST ARTICLE OF THE ASSOCIATED COLUMN AND A LOCATION CLEARING SAID LOWERMOST ARTICLE THEREOF TO RELEASE THE SAME, THE COMBINATION WITH SAID RETAINERS OF: STRUCTURE CARRIED BY EACH OF SAID RETAINERS RESPECTIVELY FOR ENGAGING THE LOWERMOST ARTICLE OF THE ASSOCIATED COLUMN TO MOVE THE SAME AWAY FROM THE ARTICLES THEREABOVE AS THE CORRESPONDING RETAINER MOVES FROM ITS NORMAL POSITION TO ITS ARTICLE-RELEASING LOCATION; AND MEANS OPERABLY ASSOCIATED WITH SAID RETAINERS FOR ALTERNATELY FORCING THE LATTER AWAY FROM SAID NORMAL POSTIONS AND TOWARD SAID LOCATIONS THEREOF, WHEREBY TO DISLODGE THE LOWERMOST ARTICLE OF EACH COLUMN TO ASSURE DISPENSING THEREOF IF THE SAME IS FROZEN TO AN ADJACENT ARTICLE OR TO ONE OF THE WALLS OF SAID COMPARTMENT. 